It shall be understood that caps of the baseball cap style are marketed in a variety of ways. These caps are marketed through conventional retail outlets, and have also found a substantial market as promotional items. In the marketing of outer wear products, it is, of course, more economical to provide such products with a minimal numbers of sizes. Thus, economy of numbers may be achieved through utilization of caps of the multi-size variety.
In addition to typical marketing, various types of business entities provide such promotional items to employees and/or customers, and in these instances, the outer surface of the crown at a point above the visor may carry an emblem, or other indicia identifying the business entity. Because of the manner in which these products are marketed, it is, of course, desirable to utilize the products with minimal size variation requirements, hence the free-size caps become extremely desirable for the customer.
As is conventional, baseball caps employ a crown portion to which a visor is secured to the forward edge of the crown and extends outwardly therefrom.
In utilization of caps for outer wear, it is desirable for the forward portion to be somewhat rigid so that, for appearance purposes, the crown portion stands somewhat erect. Also such an arrangement will normally provide a means for the visor portion to be rigid, durable, and extend generally forwardly of the wearer's forehead. Accordingly, the front gores or panels may be fitted and/or stiffened by suitable means in order to stand generally erect during wear.
In the past, attempts have been made to provide free-size cap structures of the baseball cap style, and such caps are in wide-spread use today. Typically, free-size caps are created through the utilization of a variable-length snap arrangement which permits the user to adjust the cap size as required. Such caps are frequently of the single or fixed size variety.
More recently, attempts have been made to provide free-size cap of the baseball cap type or style which does not utilize a variable-length snap arrangement. An example of such a cap is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,715,540 to B. W. Cho. In the Cho patent, a free-size cap comprises a main body having a plurality of gores forming a crown portion having a lower peripheral edge wherein at least some of the plurality of gores are composed of uniaxially stretchable fabric aligned to stretch only in a peripheral direction; and a sweat band connected to the lower peripheral edge of the crown portion, said sweat band being a single unfolded stretchable sheet in structure such as an elastic band so that it is adjustable together with the main body to fit various head sizes.
However, such caps cause a sense of oppression to the wearers since it uses a high elastic sweat band and does not keep its shape when not in use.
It is desirable to provide a cap which is more simply produced, attractive in use, comfortable for the wear by causing no oppression, and further provides the advantageous feature of multiple size capability. Such cap designs are utilized by individuals for a variety of outdoor purposes, including work purposes as well as sport purposes, including such sports as hunting, fishing, and the like.